Wing Commander The Kilrathi Saga
by Grey Wolf4
Summary: A retelling of a great science fiction saga. For decades, the Terran Confederation has been battling the brutal Kilrathi Empire.
1. Welcome to the Tigers Claw

Wing Commander - The Kilrathi Saga  
  
Disclaimers: I do not own Wing Commander  
  
Author's Notes: The Wing Commander series was my favourite series of games up to IV. I don't know which was more dire; Wing Commander - Prophecy or that dreadful movie. Most of the novels except for Freedom by Mercedes Lackey and Ellen Guon were just plain awful; I don't know why writers of the games relied on them! This retelling will have nothing to do with the novels at all with the one exception. I'm not going to use Blair's silly callsign either. Here is a little retelling of the saga of the Kilrathi War.  
  
Prologue: Welcome to the Tiger's Claw  
  
2nd Lieutenant Christopher 'Wolf' Blair sat in his seat on the shuttle beside him was his friend 2nd Lieutenant Morgan 'Jaguar' Scarlett. Both had been through the academy together along with 2nd Lieutenant Todd 'Maniac' Marshall. Maniac's callsign was not unjustified and many predicted he would be dead within his first tour of duty. Their first tour of duty as part of the Terran Confederation Space Forces would be on the TCS Tiger's Claw under the command of Commodore Richard Drake. They looked outside and saw the TCS Tiger's Claw, a Bengal class Strike carrier it was big which was what to be expected with a heavy strike carrier, it had two massive engines and other engines to determine from where they were and their view.  
  
"Hey, Chris! I hear they've got some damn fine personnel onboard and some of the best pilots in the Confederation!" Said Jaguar.  
  
"They're going to be nothing compared to ME!" Interjected Maniac.  
  
"Hah! You wish! Think you're going to be a match for the likes of the Shadow or the Iceman?" asked Jaguar.  
  
Chris simply nodded and looked thoughtful; the Tiger's Claw was home to more then a few ace-pilots. Colonel Kenji 'Shadow' Tachibana is one of the finest pilots the Confederation had to offer and is currently Wing Commander of the Tiger's Claw. Major Michael 'Iceman' Casey was another ace pilot whose kill score surpasses even Col. Tachibana's.  
  
The shuttle docked and Blair, Jaguar, Maniac and the other new recruits left the shuttle and then froze to attention as a tall oriental man, with short dark hair with the rank insignia of a Colonel approached. A lieutenant at his side.  
  
"At ease." Said the Colonel.  
  
They stood at ease.  
  
"I'm Colonel Kenji Tachibana, I'm the Wing Commander aboard the Tiger's Claw. You kids have just graduated from the academy, but just remember there IS a difference between training and the real thing." Colonel Tachibana said eyeing Maniac "The Kilrathi are a dangerous ruthless enemy as you all know we have been fighting for the past 20 years and gotten nowhere but remember it is up to us to make up the difference, always remember the future of humanity depends on us, you must never forget that."  
  
Blair nodded, everyone well knew that the Kilrathi war started over 20 years ago and that the Confederation has been unable to make any headway, the Kilrathi's primary advantage was their overall numerical supremacy in terms of ships, fighters, troops etc. When war was declared, the Terran ill preparation for war was exposed.  
  
The Colonel interrupted Blair's reverie "The lieutenant will show you to your quarters, your first briefing will be at 0700, dismissed!" 


	2. First Mission

Wing Commander - Kilrathi Saga  
  
Disclaimer's: I do not own Wing Commander (Forgot to put that in the prologue). Author's Notes: I've finally updated! I was a bit stuck but I'm over, I'm terribly sorry about the wait. But here it is chapter 1!  
  
Chapter 1 - First Mission  
  
"Hey, Chris!" called Jaguar waving his hand for Blair to come join him at the bar.  
  
Blair went to join him and as Blair sat down, the bartender a stocky, balding middle-aged man approached them.  
  
"They call you Wolf, right?" asked the Bartender "They call me Shotglass, Jaguar told me a lot about you." Handing Jaguar a drink he continued "I used to be a pilot myself but three years ago, my fighter was shot up and I was injured so badly I was declared unfit to fly a fighter."  
  
"I'm sorry to hear that." Blair nodded in sympathy as Jaguar started his drink. "I bet you wish you were behind a stick."  
  
Shotglass laughed. "You better believe it boy!" then smiled and said "There a lot of damn good people here. Not only Shadow and Iceman but a more then a few others."  
  
"Oh shit! It's 0655 hours!" cried Jaguar.  
  
Blair gasped and both nodded in silent agreement as they headed to the briefing room.  
After making it on time (to their own surprise) Blair sat down as Shadow took the Podium.  
  
"All right people listen up. The Tiger's Claw just jumped into the Enyo system. I have already had Blue Devil squadron take up the first patrol. You Killer Bees have the next shift. You rookies just coming aboard I will be assigning you experienced pilots on your first missions. The wing assignments are as follows."  
  
Shadow assigns wings to various patrols before coming to.  
  
".Wolf you'll be leading Gamma Wing with Redbird and Sprit. Spirit is an experienced pilot." Tachibana announced indicating a young oriental woman who was not that much older then Blair. "You'll be wing leader of Gamma Wing but if Spirit talks you listen, you got that?"  
  
"Yes sir." Replied Blair, somewhat surprised at being wing leader.  
  
"Good." Shadow responded "Just remember, this isn't the academy. Remember this is the real thing; anything can mean the difference between life and death. This is no training exercise! Squadron dismissed!"  
  
"Gamma Wing you are clear for launch. Your Flight plan is uploading in your Nav computer now. Good hunting Lieutenant!"  
  
Blair finished his pre-flight checklist and strapped himself in, then double-checked to make sure all ground personnel were clear of the engines. Then he flipped the switches and thumbed the engines to life.  
  
Even through the closed cockpit the engines drowned out all the noise of the flight deck. Blair clicked up the volume on his commlink and manoeuvred his fighter into launch position. The Deck officer brought down his sharp sharply and Blair punched his engines to full throttle, accelerating forward through the launch tube. A moment Blair's Hornet class Light Fighter broke through the magnetic airshield with a bare instant of resistance and he was free of the ship and he free of the ship and the artificial gravity.  
  
Blair saw two other Hornets launch, his two wingmen; his experienced pilot 1st Lieutenant Mariko 'Spirit' Tanaka and 2nd Lieutenant Randy 'Redbird' Cates, another rookie like Blair.  
  
Blair took a deep breath, he never expected to be a wingleader on his first ever mission but he did have a responsibility "Okay set your Nav computers for Nav 1 and Autopilot on my mark 3.2.1.mark."  
  
Three thousand clicks from the Nav Point.  
  
"I have enemy contact." Spirit reported over the vidlink.  
  
Blair looked at his radar and there were six enemy fighters, Blair identified them as Dralthi class medium fighters.  
  
"Break and Attack!" Blair ordered.  
  
The three hornets broke formation.Blair took on the Dralthi that was right in front fired his lasers destroying the Dralthi's front shields but the Dralthi tried to maneuver out of the way but was too late, the Dralthi did a fish tail and exploded  
  
Blair then went for another Dralthi this one had its aft to him, he tried for a missile but the Dralthi attempted to evade but it couldn't, Blair kept on him then he heard the shrill noise of the missile lock punched a missile and it found its target.  
  
"I got one!" Blair heard Redbird yell over the vidlink.  
  
Blair ignored it and found there was a Dralthi right on his tail it was also attempting missile lock, Blair could not shake this one finally Blair did a sharp deccelaration and the Dralthi flew past him. Blair promptly fired his laser cannon's into its aft section despite the Dralthi's attempt to shake him it promptly exploded when Blair's shot tore through its shields and armour.  
  
"Help me out!" Redbird cried.  
  
Blair turned to his sensors the Dralthi was right on his tail firing its guns. Redbird's aft shields were badly weakened!  
  
"Hold on Redbird! I got you covered!" Blair barked as he rushed to Redbird's aid.  
  
The Dralthi simply continued firing at Redbird, Blair knew he had to act quickly firing his lasers damaging the port side of the Dralthi forcing to break off its pursuit but Blair kept on him firing at its aft eventually destroying it.  
  
Blair looked on his radar there were no enemy fighters, Spirit must have got the other two.  
  
Blair sighed "What's your status?"  
  
"I have sustained no damage." Spirit replied.  
  
"My engine and my shield generator have been damaged somewhat."  
  
Blair looked at Redbird's hornet, it had sustained quite a lot of damage then looked to his sensors his shield generator was definitely damaged, also his port laser cannon was a charred mess but the worse damage was to his engines. Blair looked over his options and came to a decision.  
  
"Redbird, return to the carrier." Blair ordered.  
  
"But you can't!" Redbird protested stunned by the order. "I can still go on! I-"  
  
As he listened, Blair briefly considered allowing him to go on but he stood firm cutting him off "I said get back to the carrier! Look at the damage you've sustained, just what are your chances if we run into more cats!"  
  
Redbird hesitated before replying "Understood" and obeyed his order.  
  
Once he was gone they activated their autopilot at Nav 2 there was no Kilrathi so they headed to Nav 3 another few thousand clicks from it, Blair detected three Kilrathi fighters, Salthi class light fighters.  
  
Blair immediately gave the order to break and attack.  
  
Blair then hit his afterburners and headed straight at one of the Salthi firing one of his dumb fires, the Salthi attempted to evade but it was too late the dumb fire hit its starboard side and Blair's hornet went right through the debris that was the Salthi.  
  
Blair fired his last dumb fire at another Salthi but it was able to evade and did a sharp 180 firing its cannons at Blair's Hornet.  
  
Blair banked left sharply then turned his ship towards the Salthi and fired his laser cannon at its flank going through its shields and heavily damaged its port armour, the Salthi attempted to shake him but Blair was able to get a few more shots at its port side destroying it.  
  
Blair then looked on his radar, Spirit had got the other one!  
  
Spirit's voice came over the vidlink "No more Kilrathi at this Nav Point, our patrol is complete."  
  
Blair nodded "Okay we're heading back."  
  
They then turned on their autopilots heading back to base.  
  
The 'Claw was in sight, Blair eased up on his controls as he approached the open gap of the landing bay.  
  
"This is Wolf requesting permission to land."  
  
"Wolf, you are cleared to land."  
  
Blair then maneuvered for final approach, when he cleared the entrance he immediately touched down. Blair then popped his cockpit, climbed down and took off his helmet. He also saw that Spirit's fighter had landed as well.  
  
Blair's thoughts raced back to the patrol pondering over his decisions as wing leader, was engaging those Dralthi was good idea? But he was sure he made the right decision by sending Redbird back. But then he heard footsteps behind interrupting his thoughts and immediately saluted the man approaching, as did Spirit.  
  
"Well Wolf looks like you've survived your first mission." Said Shadow still wearing his flight suit. "Tell me Spirit what did you think of Wolf's performance?"  
  
"He is a very capable pilot and handled his duties as wingleader very well." Replied Spirit.  
  
"That's some high praise from Spirit, you should be proud my boy." Said Shadow with a smile then his look turned serious "About Redbird are you sure you did not send him back to the ship too soon?"  
  
"No sir. His fighter had taken heavy damage and keeping him with us was not a good idea, I stand by my decision."  
  
Shadow nodded, he seemed pleased by Blair's answer "So you should and that was the right decision in light of the condition of Redbird's craft. All right dismissed!"  
  
TBC 


End file.
